A sustained investigative series by the Boston Globe's Spotlight Team, opening with the January 6, 2002 report "Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years" on Father John Geoghan, who was moved between parishes despite the Archdiocese of Boston knowing of abuse allegations against him. The Globe wrote roughly 600 stories on the subject that year, won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, and its central finding, that dioceses systematically reassigned known abusers rather than removing them, was the pattern every later official inquiry (John Jay, the Pennsylvania grand jury, Ryan, Murphy, the Royal Commission) went on to document independently. Journalism rather than an official inquiry, but its central factual claims have since been repeatedly corroborated by inquiries with subpoena power.
Facts
Citation
AuthorThe Boston Globe Spotlight Team (Walter V. Robinson, Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Matt Carroll)
PublisherThe Boston Globe
Publication Year2002
URLhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/20/journalists-who-broke-church-sex-abuse-scandal-could-not-have-foreseen-impact/iIMZJD8RfLZXxKBVqh8h4K/story.html
Source Typejournalism
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Tier 1: Pulitzer-winning investigative journalism whose core factual claims were independently corroborated by every subpoena-backed inquiry that followed. NotesTier 1: Pulitzer-winning investigative journalism whose core factual claims were independently corroborated by every subpoena-backed inquiry that followed. The URL cited is the Globe's own retrospective account of the investigation rather than the original 2002 series archive.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Boston, Cities This source names Boston directly: "A sustained investigative series by the Boston Globe's Spotlight Team, opening with the January 6, 2002 report "Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years" on Father John Geoghan, who was moved..."
This source names Pennsylvania directly: "later official inquiry (John Jay, the Pennsylvania grand jury, Ryan, Murphy, the Royal Commission) went on to document independently."
Claims Backed By This Source (25 claims)
This source backs 25 claims across the atlas. As facts: 17 well-attested. As cited relationships: 4 holds, 2 connected. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies, 9 claims: 6 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 5 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
- Denominations, 1 claims: 1 connected.
Well-attested
17Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
Holds
4Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
General References
2Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
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